Mexico Beach and other communities along the Gulf Coast of the Florida Panhandle felt the brunt of Hurricane Michael’s fury. Now, rescuers and residents are struggling to get into the ground-zero town to assess the damage and search for the hundreds of people believed to have stayed behind.

Storm chaser and drone operator John Humphress had one word to describe what he saw: “apocalyptic.”

In this aerial view, storm damaged boats are seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael on October 11, 2018 in Panama City, Florida. - Residents of the Florida Panhandle woke to scenes of devastation Thursday after Michael tore a path through the coastal region as a powerful hurricane that killed at least two people. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP)BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images

MEXICO BEACH, FL - OCTOBER 11: Damaged boats are seen in a marina after Hurricane Michael passed through the area on October 11, 2018 in Mexico Beach, Florida. The hurricane hit the panhandle area with category 4 winds causing major damage. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

In this image made from video and provided by SevereStudios.com, damage from Hurricane Michael is seen in Mexico Beach, Fla. on Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. Search-and-rescue teams fanned out across the Florida Panhandle to reach trapped people in Michael's wake Thursday as daylight yielded scenes of rows upon rows of houses smashed to pieces by the third-most powerful hurricane on record to hit the continental U.S. (SevereStudios.com via AP) ORG XMIT: AX103

In this aerial view, a storm damaged church is seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael on October 11, 2018 in Panama City, Florida. - Residents of the Florida Panhandle woke to scenes of devastation Thursday after Michael tore a path through the coastal region as a powerful hurricane that killed at least two people. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP)BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images

MEXICO BEACH, FL - OCTOBER 11: Jim Bob looks out on the destruction caused as Hurricane Michael passed through the area on October 11, 2018 in Mexico Beach, Florida. The hurricane hit the panhandle area with category 4 winds causing major damage. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Robert Brock, 27, of Mexico Beach, Fla., walks westbound on US 98 through the coastal township, population 1200, which lay devastated on Thursday, Oct 11, 2018, after Hurricane Michael made landfall on Wednesday in the Florida Panhandle. Brock said he stayed in the city to ride out the storm. (Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via AP) ORG XMIT: FLPET102

Michael Williams, 70, waves to passing motorists while looking for food and water as downed trees prevent him from driving out of his damaged home with his family in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael in Springfield, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. "I don't know what I'm going to," said Williams. (AP Photo/David Goldman) ORG XMIT: FLDG105

Shredded trees, derailed train cars and a sunken trailer are seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael in Panama City, Fla., Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2018.Gerald Herbert/AP

The restroom in the home of Cindy an James Murphy, in Port St. Joe, Fla., is plastered with the remnants of a violent tidal surge on Thursday , Oct. 11, 2018, which damaged most of the homes on the town's coast and decimated a majority of coastal structures in adjacent Mexico Beach after Hurricane Michael made landfall on Wednesday in the Florida Panhandle. (Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via AP) ORG XMIT: FLPET105

MEXICO BEACH, FL - OCTOBER 11: Tom Bailey walks his bike past a home that was carried across a road and slammed up against a condo complex as Hurricane Michael passed through the area on October 11, 2018 in Mexico Beach, Florida. The hurricane hit the panhandle area with category 4 winds causing major damage. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

MEXICO BEACH, FL - OCTOBER 11: Damaged boats and docks are seen after Hurricane Michael passed through the area on October 11, 2018 in Mexico Beach, Florida. The hurricane hit the panhandle area with category 4 winds causing major damage. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

MEXICO BEACH, FL - OCTOBER 11: Damaged homes are seen after Hurricane Michael passed through the area on October 11, 2018 in Mexico Beach, Florida. The hurricane hit the panhandle area with category 4 winds causing major damage. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

SAINT MARKS, FL - OCTOBER 10: Bo Lynn's Market starts taking water in the town of Saint Marks as Hurricane Michael pushes the storm surge up the Wakulla and Saint Marks Rivers which come together here on October 10, 2018 in Saint Marks, Florida. The hurricane is forecast to hit the Florida Panhandle at a possible category 4 storm.Mark Wallheiser/Getty

Derailed box cars are seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael in Panama City, Fla., Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2018.Gerald Herbert/AP

Paul Dean cleans up his property in Panama City, Florida, in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael on October 11, 2018. - Residents of the Florida Panhandle woke to scenes of devastation Thursday after Michael tore a path through the coastal region as a powerful hurricane that killed at least two people. (Photo by Emily KASK / AFP)EMILY KASK/AFP/Getty Images

A vehicle sits under a fallen tree where an occupant was trapped due to tropical storm winds brought by Hurricane Michael, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018, in Atlanta. Firefighters rescued the woman and she was transported to a hospital. (John Spink/The Atlanta Journal and Constitution via AP) ORG XMIT: GAATJ301John Spink/AP

PANAMA CITY, FL - OCTOBER 11: Amanda Logsdon begins the process of trying to clean up her home after the roof was blown off by the passing winds of hurricane Michael on October 11, 2018 in Panama City, Florida. The hurricane hit the Florida Panhandle as a category 4 storm.Joe Raedle/Getty Images

A man walks past storm damage in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael on October 11, 2018 in Panama City, Florida. - Residents of the Florida Panhandle woke to scenes of devastation Thursday after Michael tore a path through the coastal region as a powerful hurricane that killed at least two people.BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images

COLUMBIA, SC - OCTOBER 11: A fallen tree rests on a house after remnants of Hurricane Michael passed through on October 11, 2018 in Columbia, South Carolina. The accident sent at least one person to the hospital.Sean Rayford/Getty Images

PANAMA CITY, FL - OCTOBER 11: Kathy Coy stands among what is left of her home after Hurricane Michael destroyed it on October 11, 2018 in Panama City, Florida. She said she was in the home when it was blown apart and is thankful to be alive. The hurricane hit the Florida Panhandle as a category 4 storm. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

PANAMA CITY, FL - OCTOBER 11: Debris is seen in the trees after hurricane Michael passed through the area on October 11, 2018 in Panama City, Florida. The hurricane hit the Florida Panhandle as a category 4 storm. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

PANAMA CITY BEACH, FL - OCTOBER 11: Gavin Conklin, 17, gathers water bottles from a neighbor's refrigerator after Hurricane Michael destroyed the home on October 11, 2018 in Panama City, Florida. The hurricane hit the Florida Panhandle as a category 4 storm. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

PANAMA CITY, FL - OCTOBER 11: Debris is strewn next to a mobile home destroyed by Hurricane Michael on October 11, 2018 in Panama City, Florida. The hurricane hit the Florida Panhandle as a category 4 storm. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

TOPSHOT - Storm damage is seen after Hurricane Michael in Panama City, Florida on October 10, 2018. - Michael slammed into the Florida coast on October 10 as the most powerful storm to hit the southern US state in more than a century as officials warned it could wreak "unimaginable devastation." Michael made landfall as a Category 4 storm near Mexico Beach, a town about 20 miles (32kms) southeast of Panama City, around 1:00 pm Eastern time (1700 GMT), the National Hurricane Center said. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP)BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images

A vehicle sits under a fallen tree where an occupant was trapped due to tropical storm winds brought by Hurricane Michael, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018, in Atlanta. Firefighters rescued the woman and she was transported to a hospital. (John Spink/The Atlanta Journal and Constitution via AP) ORG XMIT: GAATJ301

A man walks past storm damage in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael on October 11, 2018 in Panama City, Florida. - Residents of the Florida Panhandle woke to scenes of devastation Thursday after Michael tore a path through the coastal region as a powerful hurricane that killed at least two people.BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images

PANAMA CITY, FL - OCTOBER 10: Rick Teska (L) helps a business owner rescue his dogs from the damagd business after hurricane Michael passed through the area on October 10, 2018 in Panama City, Florida. The hurricane hit the Florida Panhandle as a category 4 storm. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

A trash can and debris are blown down a street by Hurricane Michael on October 10, 2018 in Panama City, Florida. The hurricane made landfall on the Florida Panhandle as a category 4 storm.Joe Raedle/Getty Images

A pedestrian struggles in the wind as he makes his way down Cherry Street on Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018 in Winston-Salem, N.C. The remnants of Hurricane Michael moved northwards after striking the Florida panhandle. (Andrew Dye/Winston-Salem Journal via AP) ORG XMIT: NCWIN101

An electric transformer explodes in the distance as heavy rains and wind from Hurricane Michael blanket the Florida State University campus Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2018, in Tallahassee, Fla.Chris O'Meara/AP

This photo made available by NASA shows they eye of Hurricane Michael, as seen from the International Space Station on Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2018. (NASA via AP) ORG XMIT: NY320

Pets are seen as people seek safety in a shelter as Hurricane Michael approaches on October 10, 2018 in Panama City, Florida. - Hurricane Michael closed in on Florida's Gulf Coast on Wednesday as an "extremely dangerous" category four storm packing powerful winds and a huge sea surge, US forecasters said. The Miami-based National Hurricane Center said the storm, which local forecasters are calling an "unprecedented" weather event for the area, is expected to slam ashore later in the day with "life-threatening" storm surges.BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images

CORRECTS HURRICANE NAME TO MICHAEL NOT MATTHEW - Earnest Sweet sits while his daughters Terri, 4, center, and Anna, 7, sleep at an evacuation shelter set up at Rutherford High School, in advance of Hurricane Michael, which is expected to make landfall today, in Panama City Beach, Fla., Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2018.Gerald Herbert/AP

Emily Hindle lies on the floor at an evacuation shelter set up at Rutherford High School, in advance of Hurricane Michael, which is expected to make landfall today, in Panama City Beach, Fla., Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2018.Gerald Herbert/AP

SHELL POINT BEACH, FL - OCTOBER 10: The storm surge and waves from Hurricane Michael batter the beachfront homes on October 10, 2018 in the Florida Panhandle community of Shell Point Beach, Florida. The hurricane is forecast to hit the Florida Panhandle at a possible category 4 storm.Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images

Jayden Morgan, 11, evacuates his home as water starts to flood his neighborhood in St. Marks, Fla, ahead of Hurricane Michael. Gaining fury with every passing hour, Hurricane Michael closed in Wednesday on the Florida Panhandle with potentially catastrophic winds of 150 mph, the most powerful storm on record ever to menace the stretch of fishing towns, military bases and spring-break beaches.Brendan Farrington/AP

SHELL POINT BEACH, FL - OCTOBER 10: The storm surge from Hurricane Michael pushes into the homes four hours prior to high tide on October 10, 2018 in the Florida Panhandle community of Shell Point Beach, Florida. The hurricane is forecast to hit the Florida Panhandle at a possible category 4 storm. (Photo by Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images)Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images

A storm chaser climbs into his vehicle during the eye of Hurricane Michael to retrieve equipment after a hotel canopy collapsed in Panama City Beach, Fla., Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2018. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) ORG XMIT: FLGH118

PANAMA CITY, FL - OCTOBER 10: Derik Kline takes shelter in a parking garage as Hurricane Michael passes through the area on October 10, 2018 in Panama City, Florida. The hurricane made landfall on the Florida Panhandle as a category 4 storm.Joe Raedle/Getty Images